Lagging Behind

Two recent studies showed the State of Hawaii to be in last place or near last place in a couple of noteworthy categories. One was a report on teacher-related policies, which specifically cited the lack of performance appraisals on a regular basis as a major flaw. Sure, time is an issue for principals who need to evaluate every year or so, but what price do our schools and our kids pay when teachers don't know expectations or don't seek to improve in vital areas based on a fair set of criteria? Everyone needs evaluation and support to improve and even thrive; that's a no-brainer.

The other survey in which we hit bottom or at least the bottom five vs. Other states was a University of North Carolina study which compared our highway system to others, and put us near the bottom in terms of cost-efficiency. Citing traffic accidents, road and bridge conditions, and other criteria, Hawaii was a big pothole in this study.

Perhaps the worst part of these two surveys is that we aren't more surprised, that there is no cry for officials to fix things now, to have a plan in place to ensure that we help ourselves. Forget the surveys, ignore the studies, but let's look at the reality of our passivity. All too often, we remain complacent through our actions and certainly through our non-actions. Thus, we can expect more results and reports and realities decrying our efforts, and sometimes our seeming lack of efforts. Ho-hum. Think About It.